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Friday, April 5, 2013

Malibu x-13, Rod holders and GTS Elite Seat

This week I received part of my orders from the previous week of shopping. I ordered a few things from Hook1, including 2 Hog Trough measuring boards, 2 forty-five degree angle flush mount rod holders, a ram transducer mount, and a Surf to Summit GTS Elite kayak seat. I also ordered an X Wing sliding console from Malibu Kayak, but it has yet to come.

To start this blog off I'll go over the installation of the flush mount rod holders first. When I bought the kayak it didn't come with flush mount rod holders, so I ended up laying my rods down and using the bungee cords on the stern well to keep the rods attached to the kayak. I noticed that Amanda had no problem keeping her spare rods within an arms reach. Needless to say, I felt it would be a good investment to get some of my own. I also ordered gaskets to keep them water tight, at the time I wasn't aware that they came with caps but I'm glad they did.

I grabbed a few tools out of the tool boxes and started work. I had a cordless drill, some bits, and a screwdriver.

I then got a permanent marker and used the gasket as a stencil to mark out the holes I needed to drill. I then started drilling holes and made one heck of a mess. I placed the rod holder into the hole and secured it with the screws that came with it. I chose to use a screwdriver and tighten the screws by hand so I didn't crack the plastic.

I then did the same thing to the other side.

That completed that process, so I then moved on to attaching the seat on the kayak. After 4 trips on the water, my lower back was in severe pain and on one occasion I actually decided to quit early because my back hurt. Therefore the seat was a high priority, and the key reason I spent so much money on it. I began my search on many different kayaking forums, in which I searched for kayak seat reviews. I quickly found that the Surf to Summit seats were one of the most mentioned and highly regarded seats out there. To make a long story short I decided to go with the Surf to Summit GTS Elite Series kayak seat and the optional fishing pack.

My kayak had factory eyelets for a crack of dawn seat (the seat that is optional when purchasing your kayak), which happen to be pretty much universal attachment points for kayak seats. I simply attached the clips to these and tightened the straps. Below is a picture of the fishing pack that I chose to buy. It comes with two rod holders and a large bag for storage.

All in all I am very happy with my purchases and I feel that they will make time on the water much more comfortable and enjoyable. Hopefully I receive my x wing console in the next few days so I can mount my fish finder and transducer mount to it.